Inspiration for this delectable dish came from the abundance of lemons and plump berries on offer in the Heide garden, which gives a delicious light contrast to the caramelised honey flavours.
NOTE: You will need to start the orange blossom lemon cream a day in advance. The recipe makes a generous amount, but leftover cream needn’t be wasted; it’s a delicious accompaniment to any dessert in need of cream.
INGREDIENTS
For the orange blossom lemon cream
- 375 ml (1½ cups) lemon juice, preferably from Meyer lemons, if available
- 8 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 440 g (2 cups) caster sugar
- 3 pinches of salt
- ¼ teaspoon orange blossom essence
- 560 g unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
For the Madeleines
- 225 g butter
- 2½ tablespoons honey
- 5 eggs
- 185 g caster sugar
- 25 g brown sugar
- 225 g plain flour
- 8 g baking powder
- Berries and edible flowers, to serve
METHOD
1 For the cream, whisk the lemon juice, eggs, yolks, and sugar in a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the mixture reaches 82⁰C. Remove from the heat and cool to around 60⁰C. You want the mixture to be warm enough to soften the butter, but not as hot as straight off the boil.
2 Add the salt and orange blossom essence and whisk, slowly adding chunks of butter, until the mixture is a smooth and silky consistency.
3 Transfer the cream to a container and seal with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. It will keep in the refrigerator for 4–5 days.
4 For the madeleines, melt the butter and honey together in a saucepan and set aside to cool completely.
5 When cooled, transfer to a food processor, add the eggs, sugars, flour, and baking powder and mix until just combined. Take care not to overwork the batter: just ensure the sugar and flour have no clumps. Leave the batter to rest for at least an hour, or overnight.
6 Preheat the oven to 200⁰C. Pipe or spoon the mixture into the shells of a lightly greased madeleine tin and bake for 8 minutes. If the mixture has run over the edges of the shell during baking, simply trim any excess to give more uniform madeleines, keeping the off cuts to use as a crumb.
7 Plate the madeleines with a decent dollop of lemon cream and top with fresh berries, such as mulberries, raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries. Garnish with edible petals or flowers.
For more delicious inspiration pick up a copy of A Heide Harvest by Alice Crowe and Maximilian, published by Thames & Hudson Australia, RRP AUD$64.99.
This recipe was originally published in the article A Heide Harvest in Issue 40 – A Little Abundance. You can purchase previous issues and enjoy more enchanting content here.
